Published April 20, 2010
by jmedalye
This morning’s episode of CBC’s ‘The Current’ featured the sounds of birds singing in West London. A newsworthy event, since no one knows if the birds sing everyday. On most days, the songs are drowned out by the ever present droning of jet engines overhead. Local residents interviewed commented both on how nice the sounds of nature are, and how refreshing silence can be in the city. A radical idea: nature is part of the city and contributes to our well being. Elsewhere, the British Navy has sent ships to take stranded travelers home; others have taken trains home. And for those whose travel plans have been canceled, they are opting to go local by taking trips to the countryside. A radical idea: we can relax close to home, and we can move across Europe by train, boat, and not plane. Business is adapting as well, with the grounding of employees on their way to meetings, conferences, and presentations, business is replacing travel with video conferencing. Another radical idea: business people do not have to fly for every meeting abroad. Perhaps the Icelandic volcano was fortuitous for climate politics, because without any advocacy from environmentalists, people have found alternative ways for moving, consuming, and conducting business. It is estimated that the grounding of planes has saved about 1.3 million tonnes of CO2 emissions in less than a week (plane emissions minus volcano emissions). This is not to sideline the frustration of millions of travelers or the loss of millions to the airline industry. But, just before the planes take off again, we should take a moment to think about how this one geological event opened a space of potentiality, and showed us that we can find alternatives to emitting GHGs, if necessary.
Posted in: Blogs | Turning Up the Heat
Hi Jackie – I heard a great interview about this on CBC As It Happens with an NPR journalist, who was describing how everyone could actually hear the birds singing. I grew up in London, and all my relatives live near Heathrow – it’s horrible to hear those planes roaring overhead, but after a while, they don’t even notice it! Great blog. Dawn Bazely